What are you listening 2 now?

[Iota]

Totally agree, and love the word "magical." One of her best, IMHO, which is saying something.

--Bruce

That's good to hear from somebody who clearly knows Gubaidulina's work far better than I do. I've only really listened to her chamber stuff before for some reason, which I've enjoyed, but Offertorium really knocked me back, and has inspired me to make wider explorations of her output. 


Now:



Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, Act I
René Jacobs et al

Perhaps even exceeding my somewhat slavering anticipations, this is scintillating, the score just glows in Jacobs' hands. He really does have the Midas Mozart touch. On to Act II.

[Todd]

Kubelik in Bavaria.  A longer opener with the repeat included and the more distant and opaque sound makes the orchestra sound much larger.  While less peppy than the Vienna recording, it possesses most of the same traits, just to a lesser degree.  Nice, but not Vienna nice.

[bhodges]

That's good to hear from somebody who clearly knows Gubaidulina's work far better than I do. I've only really listened to her chamber stuff before for some reason, which I've enjoyed, but Offertorium really knocked me back, and has inspired me to make wider explorations of her output. 

She's a fave. I don't know every last scrap of her work, but much of it is worth exploring, like her string quartets and other chamber music.

Depending on your listening habits (sometimes I like to "sit" with a piece that grabs me, before going on to something else), do check out her second violin concerto, In tempus praesens (2007), written for Anne-Sophie Mutter. Her version is great, but I see that now it has been recorded by a few others (none of which I've heard), so if either Gidon Kremer or Simone Lamsma is more your style, you can check them out on YouTube. I last heard the piece a few years ago with David Chan, the concertmaster of the MET Orchestra, with Fabio Luisi and the ensemble. Was slightly incredible, only because this is hardly repertoire that the orchestra does every day, and the results were extremely powerful.

Anyway, here are some choices:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gubaidulina+in+tempus+praesens

--Bruce

[vers la flamme]

Malcolm Arnold: Whistle Down the Wind Suite. Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra

Arnold was a genius. I'm such a sucker for these old English film scores, but Arnold's film scores—and William Alwyn's—are really something special.

[Iota]

She's a fave. I don't know every last scrap of her work, but much of it is worth exploring, like her string quartets and other chamber music.

Depending on your listening habits (sometimes I like to "sit" with a piece that grabs me, before going on to something else), do check out her second violin concerto, In tempus praesens (2007), written for Anne-Sophie Mutter. Her version is great, but I see that now it has been recorded by a few others (none of which I've heard), so if either Gidon Kremer or Simone Lamsma is more your style, you can check them out on YouTube. I last heard the piece a few years ago with David Chan, the concertmaster of the MET Orchestra, with Fabio Luisi and the ensemble. Was slightly incredible, only because this is hardly repertoire that the orchestra does every day, and the results were extremely powerful.

Anyway, here are some choices:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gubaidulina+in+tempus+praesens

--Bruce

That's great, Bruce, thanks. I was kind of semi-hoping for some tips, look forward to some sampling. 

[Linz]

Hey, Linz, do you like the Wand/BPO, Wand/Köln, or Wand/NDR Bruckner recordings better?

I like his NDR Recordings a bit better but I have to say Wand is my favorite Bruckner Conductor

[Todd]

I've known about all the Cleveland Quartet recordings on Telarc for decades, but other than their Beethoven, I've just never really listened to any recordings.  That was a colossal blunder.  These are perhaps the very best recordings of the Debussy and Ravel quartets I've ever heard.  They at least match the Ebene, which has been my personal favorite since I first heard that recording.  These recordings sound sumptuous and as gorgeous as any string quartet recordings I've ever heard.  Part of that is perhaps due to the all-Stradivarius instrument lineup, but really it's down to the still outstanding sound quality and the supremely fine playing.  Obviously, I will need to listen again, because this could be a case where sheer beauty has an outsize impact on first listen.

[vers la flamme]

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.8 in E-flat major. Leonard Bernstein, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

I really like this performance. I know this opinion may not be universally shared, but I feel the 8th has been very lucky on recordings. I have a bunch of them and they're all damn good.

[Que]

   

I am generally not so keen on Broadwood fortepianos BTW.

[San Antone]

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, Act I
René Jacobs et al is scintillating, the score just glows in Jacobs' hands. He really does have the Midas Mozart touch. On to Act II.

I love the René Jacobs's recordings of the Mozart operas.  His along with Teodor Currentzis, and John Eliot Gardiner are usually the ones I listen to when I want to hear these works.

[SonicMan46]

Bach, Johann Christian - Woodwind Concertos, V. 1/2 w/ a great orchestra and wonderful soloists, plus the delightful music of the 'London Bach' - Dave

 

[Traverso]

Beethoven


CD 1



Piano Sonatas 1,2 & 3

[Lisztianwagner]

Gustav Holst
Somerset Rhapsody

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 2 Horst Stein

[Todd]

More contemporary Cello Concertos.  The Mantovani stands out as one I could hear more versions of.

[SonicMan46]

Bach, JC (1735-1782) - KB Sonatas, Op. 5 & 17 w/ Bart van Oort on a fortepiano after Walter (c. 1795) by Chris Maene (Ruiselede, 2000) - relaxing for a quiet Saturday morning -   Dave

 

[VonStupp]

George Dyson
Nebuchadnezzar

Mark Padmore, tenor
Neal Davies, baritone
BBC SO & Chorus - Richard Hickox

For me, Dyson's talents lie in his vocal music. The quality of this cantata equates to Elgar's Light of Life to my ears, another work I enjoy greatly.

VS

[Brian]

Isserlis and Hough are always good together, but this program is unusually interesting and engaging: a Grieg cello sonata that really sells the piece as being great, a Mendelssohn masterpiece, and Stephen Hough's own sonata for cello and piano left hand. The Hough piece does not stick out too starkly from the others - he says in the notes he wanted to conjure up and pay tribute to the melancholy chamber works of Dussek, Beethoven, and Schumann. But it is not pastiche or reactionary either. Same mood, different language.

[Todd]

a Grieg cello sonata that really sells the piece as being great

Better than their RCA recording?

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 8 Günter Wand and the BPO